The government has today published its draft Localism Bill that will bring forward huge changes to the UK planning system.
Communities secretary Eric Pickles said the new bill – which will be laid before Parliament later this afternoon – would return powers to local councils and communities. It includes measures to …

Communities secretary Eric Pickles acted unlawfully in unilaterally revoking the system of regional planning strategies in England, the High Court has found today.
The court has given its judgment in the judicial review brought by housebuilder Cala Homes against the revocation of regional planning. It found that the secretary of state …

The government has given the green light to 24 partnerships between local businesses and councils to replace regional development agencies (RDAs).
Speaking today in parliament, business secretary Vince Cable said that 24 groups of local authorities and private companies had successfully bid over the summer to form so-called local enterprise partnerships, …

The government is set to spend up to £1.4bn over the next four years on regional development agency projects and the cost of dismantling the regeneration bodies.
The government has today confirmed that it will be forced to keep spending on the doomed regional development agencies until 2015. It will also …

The Greater London Assembly has today demanded “urgent clarification” following reports that the London Development Agency was set to lose its £156m non-Olympics budget in the next financial year.
Len Duvall, the chair of the London Assembly’s economic development, culture, sport and tourism committee has written to the mayor’s economic development …

Communities secretary Eric Pickles has offered local authorities £55m over the next five years as part of a bid to encourage more localism in the planning system.
In a letter to councils, sent after yesterday’s Spending Review, Pickles gave details of how various grants would be distributed over the next five …

Communities secretary Eric Pickles has said sharing staff, including planners, and merging services between councils is the future of local government.
In a speech to the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham yesterday, Pickles said that local authorities teaming up over education and planning would mean “no duplication and more productivity”.
Despite slamming …

The government has today published a list of the 56 bids it has received from councils wanting to create local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) to take on housing, planning, and regeneration powers.
If approved, each body [full list of proposals below] will take on responsibilities currently held by regional development agenies  (RDAs).
Yesterday …

Hertfordshire County Council has submitted plans to create a local enterprise partnership (LEP) to take over regeneration powers held by the South East Development Agency.
The LEP proposal, which has the official support of companies such as Lambert Smith Hampton, Tesco, and Mouchel, is the latest to have been submitted to …

Local government spending watchdog the Audit Commission has hit out at “misleading press reports” that accompanied the announcement of its abolition on Friday.
In a letter to communities secretary Eric Pickles, the quango’s chairman Michael O’Higgins said he had been “disappointed and dismayed” by reports that it had spent taxpayers’ money …